


runaway

by soulofme



Series: sheith sentence prompts [10]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: M/M, Other, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-06 23:33:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15205901
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofme/pseuds/soulofme
Summary: “You shouldn’t have invited me,” Shiro whispers. “It’s not fair to her.”“Then why’d you show up? Could’ve said no.”“Should’ve said no.”Keith smirks. “You’re not that strong.”





	runaway

**Author's Note:**

> [sentence prompt](http://stefansalfatore.tumblr.com/post/144981395239/sentence-prompts) #53: i'm his best friend.

“Shiro, my man!”

Lance claps a hand onto his shoulder with a grin, his eyes bright and excited. Shiro smiles at him and worms out of the hold, jerking his chin towards the large doors in front of them. He ignores the pit that forms in his stomach and tries to convey his nonexistent joy as best as he can.

“I’m not late, am I?” he asks, and Lance snorts, shaking his head.

“Nah, you’re good. Keith’s not even changed yet. We're just waiting around.”

“I’ll kill him myself. Don’t think I won’t.” A voice says behind them, filled with venom and punctuated with the heavy stomp of footsteps.

They turn to see Pidge stalking up the stairs, angrily jabbing at the phone in her hands. She stops when she sees Shiro, her eyes widening briefly before she grins.

“Hey, Pidge,” Lance throws an arm around Shiro and digs his knuckles into his side. “Look what the cat dragged in.”

“Holy shit,” Pidge says, shaking her head as if Shiro will disappear at any second. “I’m imagining this, right?”

“I wouldn’t miss this for the world,” Shiro says, and he narrowly avoids getting the breath knocked out of him when Pidge launches herself at him.

“I didn’t think we’d ever see you again,” she says, her voice muffled by the meat of Shiro’s shoulder.

He swallows hard and sets her down delicately, ignoring the awed expression on her face.

“I’m his best friend.” There’s more to it than that. They all know it.

“Hunk’s in the kitchen, if you wanna check in,” Lance says, rubbing at the back of his neck. “I’d promised Krolia I’d help everyone get to their seats so…”

“Right, got it,” Shiro waves him off. “I’ll be there in a sec.”

Lance nods, eyebrows furrowed, and slips back into the chapel. Pidge clears her throat quietly.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” she asks. “I mean, Shiro—”

 “I’m fine.”

“Okay,” Pidge mutters. “I’m gonna head in.”

He nods and watches her go before he settles himself down on the steps. The mid-July sun bears down on him, and Shiro swears that he feels the heat even through his suit. He yanks at the tie around his neck and swallows hard, brushing stray strands of hair away from his forehead.

To be frank, he doesn’t know why he’s here. Kuro had ripped him a new one when he told him about it, but Shiro was never known for listening to his brother. Besides, he reasoned, he and Keith _were_ best friends. If he didn’t show up, people would talk about it more than if he did.

Not that Shiro really takes the time to care about the opinions of others. Things like that hardly matter to him. But knowing Keith, and all that they’ve been through, Shiro is downright _terrified_ of letting him down.

So when the shiny wedding invitation had come in the mail, Shiro had filled it out before he fully ready it through. He doesn’t even remember getting a look at the name of the lucky person Keith decided to promise himself to for eternity.

Suddenly, the doors behind him burst open. Shiro starts at the sound and turns around, jaw positively dropping when he sees Keith himself rushing out of the chapel. It’s like something out of a bad rom-com, and he barely has time to prepare himself before Keith grabs his wrist and _runs_.

“Keith?!”

“We have to go,” Keith’s voice is gritty and raw, and Shiro feels his heart ache at the sound.

He doesn’t know how long they’ve been running until Keith slows down to a stop. Shiro leans over his knees, struggling to get air into his burning lungs. He’s always considered himself physically fit, but moments like these remind him of how he has nothing on Keith in terms of speed.

“Keith,” he says again, blood roaring in his ears. He stands up straight and realizes for the first time that Keith’s in a tee-shirt and jeans, a cross look on his face. “What the hell are you doing?”

“What does it look like?” Keith says, crossing his arms. Shiro bites back his sarcastic response, deciding that an attitude won’t get them anywhere.

“Why are you running?”

“I’m not doing it,” Keith says stiffly. Shiro shakes his head.

“You can’t just run away—”

“It always worked for you,” Keith bites. Shiro tries not to flinch. “Figured I’d give it a shot.”

“Everyone’s waiting for you,” Shiro says slowly, trying to stay as calm as possible. “It’s your big day.”

“My big day,” Keith repeats, sounding thoroughly disgusted by the words. “I can’t do this, Shiro.”

Shiro takes a deep breath and drops himself down onto a nearby bench. The park Keith dragged them to is nice, and the thick canopy of trees above them shades them from the relentless sun. But Shiro can’t really enjoy it, not when he’s staring at the runaway groom in front of him.

“Why not, Keith?” he asks.

“You _know_ why.”

Shiro wants to say that no, he doesn’t know, but he’s too damn exhausted to lie. So he sits back against the bench and looks at Keith expectantly.

“We have to go back.”

“We’re not going back,” Keith says, sounding every bit like a petulant child.

Shiro doesn’t call him out on it.

“She deserves better and you know it.”

“She flipped when I said I invited you, you know,” Keith says conversationally, the way someone would say _the sky is blue_ or _my favorite color is red_. “Had this whole spiel about how she’s not inviting any of her ex’s, so there’s no reason why I should invite mine. It was very convincing.”

He plops down onto the bench beside Shiro, letting his head rest against the back of it as he stares above them. Shiro rakes his eyes over his profile for an embarrassingly long amount of time before he forces his gaze away.

“But here I am,” he mutters.

“Here you are,” Keith agrees, shaking his head. “Pidge gave me a lot of shit about it too. She was totally convinced you wouldn’t come.”

“What about you?” Shiro asks. Keith shrugs.

“If you didn’t come, I’d drag you here myself.”

“You shouldn’t have invited me,” Shiro whispers. “It’s not fair to her.”

“Then why’d you show up?” Keith responds, twisting his head to arch a brow at Shiro. “Could’ve said no.”

“ _Should’ve_ said no.”

Keith smirks. “You’re not that strong.”

“No,” Shiro reluctantly replies. “I’m not.”

Silence falls between them. Shiro folds his hands and pretends he doesn’t feel the way Keith’s eyes bore holes into the side of his head. He can’t breathe, suddenly, and he reaches up to tug at his tie until it falls away into his hands. There’s no one to impress now.

“I only did it because it felt right,” Keith admits. “I knew she wanted to get married, so I did it for her.”

“What about you? Did you want to…” Shiro’s ashamed of how he can’t bring himself to finish the sentence. It’s as if the thought of Keith and marriage is wrong, especially because there’s no place for Shiro in that equation.

“No,” Keith scoffs. “I don’t think so.”

Shiro looks at him, alarmed. “Then why did you—”

“I wanted to see you,” Keith says. He nudges Shiro and grins, slow and easy. “You’ve been avoiding me.”

“I haven’t.”

“Sure. Whatever you say.” Keith’s still smiling, but all the humor has melted from his expression. “I think I was just banking on seeing you again.”

“Keith, we should go back,” Shiro says. It’s almost impossible to get the words out. A part of Shiro wants to be selfish and stay here, to pretend that he and Keith are just two friends catching up on lost time, that there aren’t years of history stretching between them.

But Shiro knows he can’t do that. If there’s one thing he prides himself on, it’s his strong moral compass. It’s what makes him stand to his feet and look down at Keith, waiting for him to follow.

Keith watches him, rolls his eyes, and drags Shiro down to his level with a fist around his suit jacket. Shiro braces his hands on either side of Keith’s head, eyes blown wide, and prays that his breathing isn’t too shaky.

“Keith?”

“We’re not going back there,” Keith murmurs. “We can’t.”

Keith kisses him hard enough to hurt, but Shiro guesses he deserves that. He closes his eyes and pushes all thoughts of Keith’s wedding out of his head, tangling his fingers into Keith’s hair. It’s too long, it’s not enough, he can’t _breathe_ —

“It’s not fair to you.” Keith’s voice pierces through his panicked haze, striking him right in the chest like an arrow shot from a bow. “I couldn’t do that to you.”

Shiro presses his face into Keith’s shoulder and takes a steadying breath.

“Everyone’s going to be pissed.”

“You don’t care what they think, Shiro.” Keith shifts beneath him and Shiro takes half a step back to let him up.

Shiro stares at the hopeful expression on Keith’s face, the subtle twitch of his lips and the tiny little twinkle in his eye. His throat feels tight the longer he looks, and the need to breathe properly makes Shiro look away.

“Okay,” he agrees. He’s not surprised by how easily he bends, and he’s sure Keith isn’t either.

“Okay,” Keith echoes, reaching for his hand, and Shiro holds onto him as tight as he can. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

As Shiro follows him, he tells himself that it’s because he doesn’t have a choice. It’s not even close to the truth, but it helps ease the guilt simmering in his gut.

He can only hope that Keith’s fiancé won’t kill him if she ever sees him again.


End file.
